An affiliate of Aventura-based Master Real Estate will pursue mass grading of its 18-acre site near the Sand Lake Road SunRail station while it works out parking problems for a mixed-use Development Plan.

Located at 7803 S. Orange Ave., the property includes 18 gross acres across multiple parcels, 12 of which are developable, and lies northeast of the Orange and McCoy Road intersection.

GrowthSpotter first reported in September 2016 that the developer had the property under contract, and was floating plans for a retail, office and housing project within walking distance of theSunRail station.

Affiliate Sandlake Station Partners LLC paid $1.7 million for the land in November 2016.

Subsidiary Mir Developments initially submitted the project's mixed-use DP in March 2017, which has since been revised to propose 38,000 square feet of office/retail and 196 multifamily units on most of the 18 acres, with up to 41 fee-simple townhomes reserved for a second phase.

Approval of that DP did not come last month as expected, so on Wednesday the company filed a mass grading DP so it could make progress on the land while working out its vertical development issues with county staff.

Back on March 28, the original DP for this project's vertical development hit a roadblock at Orange's Development Review Committee.

Staff at DRC told Mir Developments officials and engineer Constance Owens of Tri3 Civil Engineering Design Studio that their DP was in violation of a key condition of approval, because they didn't have 278 off-street parking spaces.

Since they have an approved Land Use Plan now, they were told to submit a change determination request to clean up the LUP, and then submit a Preliminary Subdivision Plan for 41 fee-simple townhomes.

DRC would then review those concurrently, which would be forwarded to the Board of County Commissioners. In the meantime, Mir Developments is able to submit this mass grading DP and progress with that, which only requires DRC review.

The Mir Developments team has worked closely with county planners in the past year, and Vargas said he thinks this project will meet the Pine Castle overlay standards. The challenge now is making it meet the current zoning requirement for 278 off-street parking spaces.